


The Scales in Our Favor (Or How Ninjas are to Blame for Steve's New Armor)

by TheWonderTwins



Series: Dark and Stony Night [1]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Ninjas - Freeform, Pre-Slash, SCIENCE!, Stony - Freeform, inventor!Tony, shakey science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 02:48:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWonderTwins/pseuds/TheWonderTwins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony may be purposefully oblivious to some things, but that doesn't mean he's going to sit idly by while Ninjas shred his brilliance! And Steve... But Steve gets better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: We don't own the characters or the world they live in.

Steve stared at the glowing glass and found himself amazed that technology had advanced so much. It had been a little over a year since he woke up in the future—the present now, he reminded himself, now was the present and before was the past—and some things still had that effect on him. Almost everything in Tony’s workshop—well, pretty much everything belonging to Tony if he was honest—had that effect. Some things, he’d found, hadn’t changed at all since the forty’s, but it seemed Tony couldn’t resist the urge to… to… upgrade—that was the word—everything around him. Even his windows it seemed.

The glowing numbers on the glass continued to stare at him, and he realized he didn’t have the code to get into to Tony’s lab. He was pretty sure only Pepper and Lt. Col. Rhodes had the codes, maybe Bruce.

“Um, Jarvis?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers?” The smooth British voice of the AI was familiar enough now that Steve no longer jumped when he spoke from nowhere, but he still wasn’t used to talking to him…it? Him seemed more polite.

“Is he still working?”

“Master Stark is currently making repairs to the MK VIII Iron Man suit.”

“Still?” Steve asked, surprised. Tony had hid himself in his lab to work on the suit before Steve had left on a solo mission. Three days ago. Steve frowned. “Has he come out at all in the past three days?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Which meant no.

“Will you let me in?”

“Master Stark has passed the 72-hour mark for both sleep and food. My sub-routines now allow me to grant you access.”

“He hasn’t eaten or slept?” Steve demanded as he the door slid open.

“Apparently.” Tony drawled from somewhere within the lab. “Jarvis, remind me to change your sub-routines.”

“Of course, sir.” Steve almost smiled at the AI’s sarcasm. Only Tony would program his artificial helper with sarcasm.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked, half curious and half chastising.

Tony scowled, apparently only hearing the chastisement. “Tweaking the power transfer in the MK VIII so that the unibeam won’t draw so much power.”

“Have time for a break?” Steve learned quickly that suggestions worked better than commands with Tony.

“If I say no, will you let me work?”

“No.” Steve smirked.

Tony rolled his eyes. “How can I refuse?”

“It’s not so bad, Tony. Clint made dinner.” Clint was definitely the best cook of the group, though Bruce was a close second if you didn’t mind not necessarily knowing what you were eating. His travels had left him with some interesting recipes.

Tony’s stomach rumbled loudly. “Traitor.” He mumbled and allowed himself to be prodded toward the door.

“You should take better care of yourself.”

“I manage.” Tony dismissed quickly. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a mission?”

Steve let him change the subject, since the mission was sort of why he’d come down to the lab in the first place. “Mission accomplished. I need some minor suit repair, though.” Steve handed Tony his uniform shirt.

“Repair?” Tony frowned. “This thing is nomex blended with Kevlar and steel alloy fibers. What the hell happened?” He held it up in front of him to get a better look and froze.

It took Steve a moment to realize Tony had stopped, and when he turned back Tony was staring at him. Before Steve could say anything, Tony had dropped the suit and was halfway through unbuttoning Steve’s shirt with a speed that made him wonder how much practice he had undressing other men.

“Umm…Tony?”

By the time he’d found his voice, Tony had finished with the rest of his buttons. “Anything that could have sliced through that suit—a suit based off my designs, by the way, specifically so this wouldn’t happen—would have been enough to slice you open in very unpleasant ways.”

In the time it took him to finish speaking, Tony had Steve’s undershirt up and was inspecting his abdomen with gentle fingers. Steve squirmed.

“That tickles.” He complained, a small blush reddening his cheeks. He did not expect the butterflies in his stomach or the sudden increase in his heart rate. Unsettled, but finally in full possession on his faculties, Steve brushed Tony’s hands away and straightened his clothes.

“You should be gutted.” Tony frowned.

“It wasn’t that bad. Deep cut, I suppose, but it healed on the trip home.”

Steve saw Tony visibly swallow and nod with a jerk. “Right. Super Serum.”

All that was left of the injury was a line of pink, new skin, and that would be gone by morning. “So, can you fix it?”

Tony bent down, picked the suit up off the floor, and examined it again with a frown. “We’re going to have to come up with something better. I have a few notes on some ideas about that saved with Jarvis. Hadn’t planned on upgrading it yet, but I think I’ll have to push it up on the schedule.” Tony turned back to the lab, absently talking about new alloys and the benefits of strength versus weight.

Steve cleared his throat. When Tony turned back to him, confused, Steve sighed. “Food. Sleep. Remember?”

Tony opened his mouth to protest Steve was sure, but his stomach chose that moment to rumble audibly again and his protests died unspoken. “Fine.”

“Maybe a shower, too.” Steve teased as they headed to the elevator.

“Eccentric genius over here—”

“Even eccentric geniuses need food, sleep, and decent hygiene.” Steve interrupted.

Tony told Jarvis to take the elevator to the floor with the common areas and smirked at Steve. “You’re fighting a loosing battle, Cap. Just ask Pepper. Even when we were dating and she could use sex to distract me—” Steve blushed “—getting me on a regular sleep and feeding schedule and out of the workshop is a trick and a half.”

“The real trick is how you manage to survive on coffee alone for days on end.”

“Not just coffee. Science sustains me like mother’s milk.” At that moment, Tony’s stomach rumbled audibly again.

Steve laughed and led Tony out of the elevator to the kitchen. “Take a seat and I’ll heat up some leftovers.”

Tony obeyed, idly examining the suit. Steve nodded and set about finding something for Tony to eat. He sighed when he noticed that all of Clint’s dinner was devoured, leaving not even a plateful for Tony. Steve needed to get the team to break that habit. Even if Tony was going to lock himself in his workshop, it was still polite to save him a plate for later. Instead, he rummaged through the pantry and refrigerator for sandwich fixings. Something simple that even he could make. 

He glanced at Tony while he walked around the kitchen preparing food. His dark eyebrows were knit together in a frown as he examined Steve’s ripped suit.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Tony raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, “They still make pennies?”

Steve very carefully didn’t react. If he encouraged the joke, Stark would use it as a way out of the conversation.

Tony rolled his eyes and held up the suit by the tear. “This,” he waggled his fingers through the hole, “should not have happened. My brilliance has been shredded.”

Steve tried to fight a smile, “Actually, I think it’s my suit that’s shredded.”

“You wound me. My pride is now as shredded as my brilliance.” Tony’s eyes twinkled as Steve huffed out a laugh. His face became more serious, though, as he continued, “How did this happen?”

“There were more of them than SHIELD intel suggested.” Steve frowned. “One of them got a lucky shot.”

“Better tech, too. Did you get a good look at what they were—“

Steve cut Tony off by holding up a shard of a blade. When Tony made grabby motions, Steve put it back in his pocket and set the plate of sandwiches in front of Tony instead. “Food first.”

“Tease.” But Tony dug into his sandwiches with vigor. Once he finished the first one, Tony motioned to the plate and invited Steve to take the third as he picked up the second and took a bite.

Steve picked up the offered food with some hesitation and took a bite of his own. When he was growing up in the Depression, food was scarce. There was all-too-often not enough food for everyone to eat their fill, and from an early age he’d come to associate sharing food as displays of affection. Steve knew that there was an abundance of food in this century, and that it meant nothing for people these days to share, but some things still hit him as it would when he was a kid.

He went to the fridge and poured himself something to drink to go with his sandwich. When he turned back to Tony, the man scoffed.

“Milk? Really?”

“What’s wrong with milk?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Tony smiled.

Steve rolled his eyes, but he placed the coke he’d pulled out for Tony on the counter.

Tony popped the top and took a long swig, still looking at the tear as if it had offended him. And perhaps it had. Tony took great pride in his inventions and did not like it when something outwitted him.

“I don’t think it’s going to tell you its secrets.” Steve smiled.

“You’d be surprised. The best interrogators are the ones who don’t say anything.”

“That’s not always true.” Natasha said as she slinked into the kitchen past Steve.

“You’re up late.” Steve commented.

She just shrugged.

“What time is it?” Tony asked confused.

“About 3am.” Natasha said putting her own sandwich together from the fixings still on the counter. “How was your mission, Cap?”

“He shredded my brilliance!”

Natasha quirked an eyebrow.

“My suit tore.” Steve clarified.

Tony held it aloft so that the other Avenger could look at the tear. “Apparently, someone got ‘a lucky shot.’”

The assassin turned her eyes to Steve and he quickly fought down the urge to flinch. Natasha’s direct, assessing gaze had that affect on people. “You are injured?”

“It healed.”

She looked at him for a few more seconds before picking up her sandwich and walking past him. “Night, Cap.”

“Goodnight Tasha.”

“That’s it?” Tony demanded.

She turned back and stared at Tony until he looked away, and then she kept walking.

“Were you expecting her to tear his shirt off and give him a physical?” Clint asked with a smirk, suddenly standing next to Tony. 

Tony blushed.

Sometimes living with two assassins was interesting. “Does anyone sleep in this Tower?” Steve asked, mostly teasing.

“Thor does,” Clint said. “His snoring keeps the rest of us up.”

Clint stole Tony’s soda and left before Tony could complain. Tony frowned after him, but didn’t say anything. 

“Time for sleep, Tony.”

Tony sighed dramatically, but didn’t argue. He stood, and with a little salute to Steve, headed down the hallway to his suite.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or their world

A week later, Tony finished upgrades for both Steve’s armor and his own, just in time for another attack from Hydra. Tony allowed himself a smug smile every time an attack was countered by Steve’s new suit. The new titanium fiber he’d come up with was doing its job, and Steve remained uninjured. Which was a very good thing.

When Tony had seen the tear in the old suit, he’d nearly had a panic attack. Which was weird. Even in Tony’s mind, he’d overreacted. It had been months since the Avengers had moved into Stark Tower after Loki’s attack on New York. In that time, he and Steve had gotten along much better, but that didn’t explain the panic that had flooded his veins when he realized how severely Steve had to have been injured.

Similar fear had trickled over him when Steve had finally let him examine the shard that had cut the suit. The material was an alloy he’d never encountered before with an incredible propensity for strength.

It had also been covered in blood. Steve’s blood. The super soldier had explained that he’d broken the sword with his shield and plucked the shard out of his wound on the plane home when it had tried to heal over the shard.

“How’s the new suit, Cap?” He asked during a lull in bad guys.

“Excellent. Thank you for not going with the gold.”

Tony laughed. He had considered the gold-titanium alloy that his Iron Man armor used. Steve had cringed and claimed it was a little too flashy. Tony silently agreed, but—just to be annoying—pointed out that the Captain already went around in a spangly outfit, so what was a little more flash?

Tony set down next to Steve. The area was fairly quiet. “Head count.” Steve ordered into the comms. As the other Avengers checked in one by one, Tony and Steve relaxed a little. 

“I don’t see any more of them.” Hawkeye announced.

“Verily.” Thor boomed as he landed next to Steve and Tony. “Our foe is defeated once again.”

“Widow, notify SHIELD the area is clear for clean-up—“

“Incoming!” Hawkeye shouted. “Thor, Iron Man, Cap, you have inbound ninjas from the northwest.”

“Ninjas?” Tony asked incredulous.

Then he saw them—“not very stealthy ninjas” he mused—and there really was no other way to describe them. Dressed in pitch-black catsuits, covering them from head to toe, the only color on them was a green band where their eyes should have been and the bright yellow Hydra symbol on their foreheads. Each wielded a sword.

“Jarvis! Analyze!” The HUD projected images of one of the blades, breaking down components and creation. They matched the shard Steve had brought back.

“Those look familiar.” Steve drawled.

“Time to test my brilliance.” Tony grinned.

He received the smallest of laughs from Steve before Captain America launched into the fray.

The three worked seamlessly together blasting, slamming, and throwing enemies with repulsers, shield, and hammer in an elegant dance borne of practice and trust. There were a lot of ninjas however, and numbers counted for a lot when it came to close quarters fighting.

Listening to the comms, Tony knew that both Hawkeye and Black Widow were on the outskirts, picking off as many as they could, but from the middle he was finding little had an effect on the Hydra-ninjas.

“Where’s Hulk?” Tony demanded.

“He’s got his own problems at the moment.” Hawkeye said mildly.

Tony released an explicative that would normally make Steve frown, but he was too focused on escaping the ninja dog-pile to look Steve’s way.

“Window, Hawkeye! Go help Hulk, we need his help.” Steve ordered.

A shaft of light heralded the removal of the ninja scrabbling to get Tony’s mask off. Looking up, Tony saw Steve heft the ninja up and throw him into a few others attacking Tony, knocking his left side free. He took the opportunity to free himself completely by pointing his thrusters at the ground and launching into the air. He flipped out from under the dog-pile, caring not a wit that his boot sets several of them on fire as he righted himself.

“Thanks for the help, Cap.” 

Steve saluted him and then slammed his shield into the nearest attacker. Tony dropped down to land on the ninja sneaking up on the Captain, crushing him. Now back-to-back, it was a bit easier to hold off the swarm of bad guys.

“These guys just don’t give up.” Hawkeye breathed over the comm.

“Where are they even coming from?” Tony asked. “The area was clear!”

“How about you ask them?” Hawkeye growled.

“Focus!” Steve commanded. His Captain America voice was very impressive; Tony was thankful he only used it in battle. “Hawkeye, what do you see?”

“Nearly got the Hulk unburied, but there are still more coming.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere?”

“Not helpful, Barton!” Tony huffed. “Alright, Thor, Cap, get down.” He waited just long enough for them to comply before turning on his laser weapon. He neatly sliced through all of the surrounding ninjas, but the laser hadn’t cut through as many as it should have. The fallen were quickly replaced, and Tony cursed under his breath.

Just then, a roar told everyone that the Hulk had freed himself. The rumbling signaled his approach. This fight was almost over. Probably. Finally.

The Hulk leapt from a nearby building to crash into the street, squishing a dozen ninjas in the process. Widow and Hawkeye arrived shortly after. With all of the Avengers assembled, the rest of the ninjas fell in short order. They gave the area a thorough look-over to make sure no more surprises came at them before exhaling and relaxing.

“Freaking ninjas.”

Apparently his muttering made it across the comms—of course it did, he designed them—because Natasha responded on their group channel. “Point of interest, the plural of ninja is ninja.”

“A: of course you know that, and B: that’s just confusing. I will continue to be grammatically incorrect for the sake of clear communication, thanks.”

Tony ran every scan that the armor was capable of running, looking for how they got such a huge number of bodies nearly invisible until they were nearly upon them, and how there were so resistant to one of his most powerful attacks.

“Talk to me, Jarvis.”

“Sir, there are unknown energy readings coming from their suits. Might I suggest acquiring samples?”

“Iron Man, what have you got?”

Tony sighed. The battle was over, but until there were back at SHIELD or the Tower, Steve would insist on codenames. “Unknown energy readings from their suits. Might be how they got so close.”

“We should take one of these things back to SHIELD R&D they aren’t… natural.”

Tony scoffed. SHIELD could wait in line. “What gave it away?”

“The claws were a hint.”

Tony nodded. He’d noticed when they had switched to clawing at his armor—and had actually damaged it—that something was amiss. When he glanced up to impart on Steve a witty retort, he froze, words dead on his lips.

“Cat got your tongue?” Steve smirked, apparently oblivious to the blood pouring down his neck and shoulders from a few jagged slashes that ran across where said body parts joined.

“You’re bleeding.” Tony stood and glared at the blood as if it had offended him, which it had. He’d worked and tested that new armor countless—271—times before letting Steve wear it in battle, and it hadn’t lasted it’s first time out!

Steve touched his gloved hand to his wound and looked at the blood curiously as he pulled away. “It’ll heal.”

“So much for that upgrade.” Clint muttered, grinning.

“Hawkeye.” Steve chided. “It did what it was designed to.”

“Beg to differ.” Tony snapped.

“Despair not, Man of Iron. The great Captain would have been divested of his head were it not for his finely crafted armor.” Thor boomed.

“That… is not as reassuring as it sounds.” 

Bruce groaned. He’d reverted back to his mild-mannered alter ego and Black Widow was helping him stand.

“Seconded.” Clint tentatively poked one of the claws with his the toe of his boot.

At that moment, black, non-descript SHIELD vans pulled around the corner.

“Time to go.”

Tony agreed with Bruce. “Right. Thor, pick a relatively non-smashed ninja and haul it back to the Tower. SHIELD can have the rest.”

Thor nodded and departed, ninja over one shoulder and Bruce held safely in his arm. All the Avengers agreed that no one, not even SHIELD, was allowed to take Bruce anywhere right after a Hulk-out. He was always taken to the Tower to calm down and recover.

Clint and Natasha, as SHIELD agents, were the ones that handled the clean-up crews, leaving Steve and Tony to go back to the Tower before Fury dragged them in for a debriefing. They would go—eventually—but they both preferred to go the Tower first.

“Need a ride?”

Steve smiled. “You need to ask?”

Tony shrugged. “Seems like the polite thing to do.”

Steve raised a skeptical eyebrow, though the smile was still there.

“Shut up.”

“I said nothing.”

“You were thinking very loudly.”

Steve laughed as Tony launched them skyward. Tony thought it was a good sound, and reminded himself to check power consumption reports on the armor, because his damned arc reactor was making his heart do that weird flutter thing again. 

By time they landed and Tony had stepped out of his armor, Steve had stopped bleeding. Bruce was there, in fresh clothes, along with Darcy and her first-aid kit, waiting for them. Steve sighed and removed his cowl, submitting to Darcy and Bruce’s inspection, and began removing the armored chest piece. 

Jane’s spitfire of an assistant had joined them in the Tower when Jane had moved in with Thor, and she’d joined forces with Bruce to be the Tower’s non-critical medic. She’d apparently had at least some training and wasn’t squeamish; Tony was just thankful for the reduced trips to SHIELD Medical.

He gathered the chest piece to him and began cooing over it like a wounded pet as he headed to his lab. He did take a look at Steve’s wound as he left, though, just to make sure he was healing. Darcy had the blood cleaned away and all that remained were a few shallow scrapes.

Oddly, Thor was in his lab when he arrived. The demi-god was looking pensively at the dead ninja on a slab.

“What’s on your mind, Big Guy?”

“These beasts do not feel right. They seem at first glance to be Midgardian, but they are not… whole.”

“Well, he is a bit flatter than he used to be.”

“Nay, friend Tony. You misunderstand my meaning.”

“Explain it to me.” Tony was curious. Thor rarely took interest in a foe once it was dead.

“He feels of both this world and another.” Thor uncrossed his huge arms and grasped on limp forearm in one of his hands. “This is Chitauri.”

Tony nearly dropped Steve’s armor. The ninjas were Chitauri? How was that possible? He set the chest piece down and went over to the dead body.

“Jarvis!”

“Starting the analysis, Sir.” The slab lit up as Tony’s AI ran his tests. “The genetic make-up is… primarily human.”

“Primarily? Can you be more specific?” Tony began to run through his list of geneticists that might be of help in his head while Jarvis continued scanning. He could possibly bring one of them in, but he disliked the idea of this getting out. Public awareness of alien life had been forced with the original Chitauri invasion, but this was something else altogether. He’d hold off on outside help.

“There are minute traces of foreign DNA in his genetic make-up; I am also detecting significant levels of radiation markers.”

“Gamma?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Send Bruce down.” Tony ordered absently. “Ok. About the foreign DNA? Can you identify it?”

“There are only minute traces, Sir, it will take time.”

“Do you have Chitauri DNA on file?”

“Of course, Sir.”

“Run it first.” Tony rubbed a hand over his unshaved face. He spared a glance at Thor. The giant Asgardian was frowning at the ninja. “This might take a while.”

Thor sighed. “Aye. You will inform me when you have answers?”

Tony nodded. “Go relax; Jarvis restocked on pop-tarts this morning.”

Thor’s natural smile returned and he clapped Tony on the shoulder as he passed. “I thank thee, friend Jarvis.”

“It was no trouble.” The AI replied kindly.

Bruce arrived not long after. “He’s fine.”

“I know.” Tony said, tapping restlessly against the arc reactor.

Bruce didn’t bring it up again, which Tony was thankful for. He was beginning to suspect the occasional flutter in his chest at the mention of Steve wasn’t actually the arc reactor malfunctioning. He wasn’t convinced yet, though.

“So, you wanted my opinion?” Bruce came over to the holographic readout Tony was staring at, reading the lines of data Jarvis’s scans were retrieving. 

“Thor thinks these guys are part Chitauri.” Tony tapped a section and enlarged data specific to the genetic sequences. “Jarvis found traces of non-human DNA and gamma radiation.”

Bruce hummed in thought and looked over the readings. “It looks like the same readings the Tesseract and Loki’s spear gave off. There’s something else about them though… I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

Tony allowed Bruce to think in peace. If he wanted to bounce ideas, he would; otherwise, Tony knew to keep fairly quiet while Bruce was thinking through something. Unable to stand idle, Tony went back to Jarvis’s readings.

An hour later, Jarvis interrupted. “Sir.”

“You’ve finished the comparison?”

“Yes, Sir. Thor is correct. This man’s genetic code was altered with Chitauri DNA. The alteration is seamless. I had to sift through several sequences, but I discovered something I believe to be rather pertinent.”

“Out with it. Don’t be a tease.”

“It’s the super serum.” Bruce said suddenly.

“Dr. Banner is correct. There were traces of a modified version of Dr. Erskine’s original formula within the genetic code.”

“I knew there was something else about the gamma readings. They used my research in the possibilities of Gamma radiation in conjunction with the serum… How did they even get their hands on it…”

“Help me get this suit off. Let’s take a look.” Bruce moved over to help Tony remove the cat suit. It took a few moments to find the seam, but Tony grasped firmly when he did and ripped off the mask.

Revealed beneath was some sick amalgamation of human and alien. Unnaturally pale, faintly blue skin stretched tight against a gaunt, but human bone structure. The nose was disfigured and almost flat against his face. The lidless eyes stared up at nothing, the film of death only just settling in over Tesseract blue eyes.

“Not winning any beauty pageants…” Bruce commented quietly.

“I want a look at those hands; let’s get the rest of it.” Tony was focused, though he did smile a little at Bruce’s humor.

They worked the rest of the suit off without tearing it. Tony set it all on a different table and asked Jarvis to start a complete analysis.

Meanwhile, they focused on the creature laid out before them. The pale, bluish skin stretched all over the gaunt frame of what looked like an otherwise normal wiry muscled human. There was a vaguely hammer-shaped dent in the chest, so Tony took a wild guess at cause of death. Tony catalogued his observations out loud for Jarvis to record, with the occasional comment from Bruce, who also made his own independent observations from his different scientific background. He took one of the arms in both hands and noted the tough, leather-like feel of the skin transformed gradually to a rougher texture. He groped blindly behind him for his goggles until he found them and jammed them on his face to take an enhanced look.

“What do you make of this?”

Bruce took the offered limb and ran a fingertip over the rough section of skin. “Huh. It’s like—”

“Scales.” Tony finished for him. “And look at the hand.”

The long, almost delicate fingers ended in blackened, pointed, vicious claws instead of regular fingernails. Oddly, they did not look particularly natural, they seemed almost—

“Metallic?” Bruce asked, confused. “Is that metal?”

“It is a coating of what appears to be a titanium-tungsten alloy. The organic claws beneath are similar to the Chitauri.”

“Thank you, Jarvis.”

“This seems…very elaborate.” Bruce observed warily.

“Hydra was always elaborate Dr. Banner.” Steve said from the doorway. Tony hadn’t even noticed he was there. Jarvis must have let him in. “Red Skull had a flare for the dramatic.”

“I’m not entirely sure this is Hydra.” Tony informed the room, frowning at the readings Jarvis was feeding him from the suit.

“What makes you think that?” Steve was tense. He was always tense when Hydra reared its heads.

“They had a Hydra emblem right on their suits.” Bruce pointed at the suit on the table.

Tony nodded, “I’m not saying these weren’t Hydra’s soldiers, but this all seems a bit beyond Hydra’s level.”

“You think Hydra’s working with someone?”

“Eh,” Tony hesitated, “possibly… or they stole it, or they have new scientists. Probably stole it though. My vote’s stole it.”

“These are genetically engineered human/Chitauri hybrids, laced with a super soldier serum and gamma radiation,” Bruce started—Tony noticed Steve go very still, but he remained quiet as Bruce continued—“with specially designed weapons. Who could they have stolen it from?”

“Don’t know. Just a theory.”

“Jarvis, could you send the genetic data to my lab?”

“Of course, Dr. Banner.”

“I’ll be there if you come up with something.” Bruce said before leaving.

“Have fun.” Tony waved. He glanced up at Steve when he didn’t see him follow Bruce out.

He seemed…very tense.

“You found traces of the serum?” He asked.

Tony nodded. No sugar coating for Steve; the man would not appreciate it. “They used a less sophisticated form of Dr. Erskine’s formula—possibly extrapolated from samples taken from the Red Skull—along with gamma radiation from Bruce’s research. Probably the Chitauri DNA, which was already adapted to the Tesseract’s radiation, is what saved them from becoming Hulks. Just a theory though. It could also be that they got the math right, where Bruce didn’t, but that seems a bit unlikely.”

“How did they get their hands on it?”

“Don’t know,” Tony sighed, typing in a few more parameters for Jarvis to run on the suit, “but that seems to be the question of the day.”

When he glanced back up at Steve, he was frowning at the piece of his armor that Tony had set aside. It wasn’t Steve’s angry frown, which was good. Tony thought it might be a contemplative frown or his worried frown. Either way, Tony decided to distract him.

Tony picked up the armor and brought it over. “Sorry. By the way.”

Steve seemed to come back to himself and smiled, “Did Tony Stark just apologize?”

“It doesn’t happen often, I admit, but yes.” Tony said a little awkward.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“The armor.” Tony said in way of explanation.

“You couldn’t have anticipated—“

“I should have.” Tony snapped, angry with himself. “I’m a futurist, it’s my job to predict and anticipate.”

“The future doesn’t always have answers, Tony.” Steve clasped him gently on the shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

Tony sighed. There would be no arguing this with Steve. Instead he shrugged the larger man’s hand off his shoulder and went back to his analyses, ignoring the voice that told him to lean into the touch.

“I’ll try to have something in a few hours.”

To Tony’s surprise, Steve didn’t leave. Instead the super soldier looked at the hybrid on the table, that curious look on his face again. “Do you mind if I stay? Unless… I don’t want to distract you.”

“Knock yourself out.” Tony replied. Normally he didn’t have people down in the lab while he worked unless they were testing something or delivering something for him. He wasn’t sure why Steve wanted to hang around, but he wasn’t going to chase him out.

“How’s your suit?” Steve asked after a few minutes.

“Hm?” Tony was a little absorbed in the readings, but pulled his attention to Steve and his question. “Oh. Few scratches. I think a repair might be in order for the joints, though.”

“But you’re fine?”

“Oh yeah.” Tony deflected casually. “They only got through a few layers.”

“That’s good. Though you should avoid being at the bottom of dog-piles in the future.” Steve teased.

“Bottom’s not my preferred position.” Tony smirked as Steve blushed lightly. Tony enjoyed that Steve tried to be snarky, but that he could still make the man blush easily.

The blush faded before Steve spoke again; this time, a much more somber topic. “Was he human, do you think?”

Tony considered the question. It was possible that these had been homegrown to be like this. Clones were possible, in theory, even fully grown like this one, and it wasn’t any more difficult than full modification and engineering a successful—sort of—serum would be.

“Not sure.” Tony said finally. “Might have been grown that way, but the serum makes me think that, yeah, he was human.”

“Is there any way to be sure?”

“Jarvis is still running analyses, and Bruce has started his own. One of them should be able to tell us. We’re bouncing data back and forth right now, even though we’re in different labs.”

Steve nodded and returned to silence. He pulled out a sketchpad—Tony wasn’t sure from where—and began drawing. They spent an hour like that before Tony clapped his hands together excitedly and grinned at the displays in front of him.

“Something interesting happen?” Steve asked dryly.

“Science, Steve!” Tony smiled. “Science is always interesting.”

Steve chuckled quietly and put his sketchbook aside. “Anything specific?”

“As it happens, yes. Jarvis, call the others.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Steve came over to Tony as he busied himself pulling up information on several different holo displays. “What am I looking at?”

“Patience, Cap.” Tony said, still arranging displays and information.

Thor was the first to arrive, closely followed by Bruce. Clint and Natasha snuck in—not on purpose, that’s just how they moved—a few minutes later.

“You have news?” Thor asked.

“I do.” Tony agreed. He selected the readout of the hybrid’s genetic info and brought it forward, enlarging it in the process. “Behold Hydra’s most recent attempt at racial superiority.”

“That ugly face was under those masks?” Clint asked.

“You are looking at a human/Chitauri hybrid.” Tony continued, ignoring Clint’s outburst. “With help from Bruce and Jarvis, we’ve determined that this poor sap was once a normal guy. He’s undergone some…modifications. They used both Dr. Erskine and Dr. Banner’s research of the super serum to make alterations to their DNA. Instead of enhancing what was already there, they added alien DNA to the mix. Honestly, I’m a little surprised Hydra pulled this off.”

“What’s the extent of the modifications?” Natasha asked, all business.

“Speed, strength, health… all increased—not to Steve’s level—and the physical alterations don’t stop there. As you can see, the skin is tougher, even developing scale-like properties near the extremities. The claws—“

“Claws?” 

“Claws, keep up Barton.”

Clint grimaced. “You mean those weren’t part of the suit?”

Tony zoomed in on the appendage in question. “Long fingers that end in razor-sharp, talon-like claws that have been coated in a titanium-tungsten alloy. Strong enough and sharp enough to slice through Cap’s suit and my armor.”

“Impressive.” Natasha assessed.

“Be glad they didn’t seem to be interested in either of you.” Tony said seriously as he moved the holo to the side. “Other than that, they don’t seem too resistant to damage.”

“I saw you try to slice and dice these guys without effect,” Clint accused, “you call that not resistant?”

“It didn’t have no effect.” Tony glared. “And besides, it wasn’t the modifications that did that.” He pulled up the relevant data on the suit and enlarged it for the room. “This is the really interesting stuff. Now, I’m still examining the tech, but I have figured out what it does. These crazy kids got their hands on stealth tech. Personal invisibility wrapped up in a stylish catsuit that also doubles as armor. Very special, energy absorbent armor. The weave is impressive, considering.”

“Considering what?”

“The stealth tech is in the weave. To have it remain flexible and functional is impressive for something that didn’t come from this lab.”

Clint scoffed.

“Keep that attitude, Big Bird, and I won’t upgrade your armor.”

“You could put this in our suits?” Natasha lifted one eyebrow delicately.

“Only if you ask nicely.” Tony smirked.

Natasha smiled in response and Tony feared for his vitals. She had that affect on a lot of people. To cover his unease around the assassin, Tony kept talking. He spent the next half hour describing the findings thus far. He was fairly certain that no one other than Bruce was really keeping up, but it felt good to have people that listened. 

And wasn’t that a kick.

He was getting used to this team thing.

When he finished, Thor clasped his forearm in a warrior’s salute and thanked him for taking the time to explain. The demi-god was probably getting tired of SHIELD agents dumbing their explanations down—Tony certainly was—expecting the outsider to not understand. And maybe he didn’t, but Tony suspected he knew a lot more than his jovial exterior implied. Thor certainly appreciated Tony trying. Thor left with a declaration of a hunt for food.

Clint followed suggesting a game of Wii bowling to “get my IQ back to its normal level.” Natasha shook her head and followed silently.

Bruce was going over data on his tablet that he’d brought down with him. “These physical effects are really remarkable.”

“Do you think this was the intended outcome?” Steve asked. 

“Probably not, but without asking…”

“I’d love to have a conversation with whoever came up with this.” Tony remarked.

Steve gave him a look and Tony shrugged.

“It wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation, Steve.” Bruce added. “I don’t imagine many words would be exchanged.”

Steve’s frown turned into a look of confusion.

“Let me put it to you this way, Cap. Your procedure. You remember it?”

“Of course.”

“Would you call it a particularly delightful experience?” When Steve frowned, Tony continued. “It was painful—I know, I’ve seen the tape—it altered your physique a bit, but not like this.” Tony glanced down at the body on the table. “Modifications this extensive would have been excruciating, and these bastards did it over and over and over again.”

When a large hand placed itself on his shoulder, Tony looked up. Steve’s very blue eyes stared at him and he made eye contact, Steve said, “You’re a good man, Tony. We’ll make sure Hydra’s brought to justice.”

Tony resolutely ignored the flip-flop of his stomach at Steve’s words, his eyes, his—no! Not thinking about it. Definitely not. Instead, he nodded and cleared his throat, “Gee, Cap. I can practically see the US Flag behind you.”

Steve chuckled and squeezed his shoulder once before letting go. He nodded to Bruce on his way out the door.

When he left, Tony sighed inwardly. He’d enjoyed the company. Bruce was here though, so he jumped into further analysis of the suit while Bruce worked with the body.

What was fantastic about the whole Avengers thing was that working in his lab with someone—someone competent—was awesome. Bruce was brilliant and had a dry sense of humor that Tony enjoyed. They were bros. They were science bros, and that was a novel experience for Tony. 

The worked in the same space and didn’t intrude on each other’s space, but also mingled with and around the other. The only other place Tony felt as in sync with someone was on the battlefield with Steve.

There was that flutter again. He made a mental note to run some tests on the arc reactor. He’d hate for it to crap out on him at some unexpected—and probably inconvenient—moment. After though. After all this ninja stuff was resolved.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the world

Steve made his way to the gym a few days after the ninja attack. He felt tense and he wasn’t sure why, but pounding a punching bag for a few hours should help. Give his restless energy something simple to focus on and allow his mind to wander. Maybe he’d even turn on the sparring prototype that Tony had built. He’d said it wasn’t quite ready, but he had put it in the gym, so it couldn’t be too far from finished. As reckless as Tony could be with himself—a fact that brought Steve no end of stress—he was very cautious with the other Avengers.

“Jarvis?” Steve headed over to the almost innocent looking practice dummy.

“How may I be of assistance, Captain?”

“What are the chances that the prototype will explode if I use it?”

It was a Tony Stark invention; he had to ask.

Jarvis sounded amused when he answered, “Remarkably low, Captain. It is however, still being tested—“

“I can test it.” Steve offered. “How do I turn it on?”

The AI walked Steve through the simple start-up procedure, but did warn him that he would not be blamed if Steve injured himself.

Steve just smiled and started the robot. It was fairly simple at first, but Tony claimed it would adapt to Steve as he practiced, so Steve put the thing through its paces for several minutes before it finally started challenging him. He grinned and threw himself into the sparring session.

A couple hours later, Steve was ready to move on to something else, satisfied that the robot was working just fine and Tony had successfully created another brilliant invention.

“Jarvis.” Steve said, an amused frown tugging at his lips. “How do I turn it off?”

“Switch on the back, Captain.”

Steve moved for the switch, but the bot danced away from his hand, aiming a punch to his side as it went. He blocked and tried again, but the robot evaded and landed a hard hit to his shoulder.

“Jarvis—“

“I did warn you it wasn’t ready.” The AI reminded him with what might have been a sigh.

Steve struggled to turn the robot off. It had spent the last few hours learning his fighting style, however, and was annoyingly difficult to catch. Just as Steve was about to call for help, Natasha came from seemingly nowhere and disabled the robot with brutal efficiency. 

“Thanks.”

“Jarvis said you might need some help.” She kicked the now broken bot to the side and smirked. Just a little.

“Yeah. I think I found a design flaw.”

“Can I be there when you explain that to Stark?” Clint asked, dropping out of the ceiling.

Natasha ignored him. “Why’d you decide to use the untested equipment?”

“Pent up frustration?” Clint teased.

Steve was proud of himself of not blushing. “Routine helps me think.”

“So you use the new, learning robot to spar with? How is that routine?” Clint raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Admittedly, it didn’t turn out as I imagined.” Steve chuckled.

“Still want to spar?” Natasha asked.

Steve rolled his shoulders and loosened his muscles. “Sure.”

Sparring with Natasha was vastly different than sparring with the robot, but he enjoyed the challenge. She was his favorite sparring partner simply because she handed him his ass in truly unique ways.

When they were done—one of the few times Steve won—they broke apart to find they had an audience. Clint was still there, but Thor, Bruce, and Darcy had arrived as well.

Clint and Darcy had popcorn.

“Entertained?” Natasha asked.

“Always.” Darcy grinned.

“You want to go?” Natasha asked, a small twitch of her lips the only hint that she wasn’t going to kill the girl.

“Can I bring my taser?”

Natasha smiled and patted Darcy on the cheek as she passed. Steve blinked. He couldn’t remember Natasha showing that much affection to anyone.

“Congratulations.” Clint breathed in awe. “Either she’s just marked you for death, or she likes you.”

Darcy just smirked.

“I have a sneaking suspicion that Darcy is Natasha’s new favorite.” Bruce grinned.

“Oh, Bruce.” Darcy giggled, “You say the sweetest things.”

“That hurts.” Clint feigned insult and clutched his chest. 

Steve smiled fondly at their antics. It was good to be around relaxed people and just be. Being a soldier during the war had had moments like this, but they were far more frequent with the Avengers. It relieved some tension just to see everyone getting along.

An anguished cry sounded from the door. Steve turned to see Tony. The genius ran over to his demolished robot. Clint, Darcy, and Bruce shut up quickly, and Darcy grabbed another handful of popcorn.

“What happened?” Tony pouted.

Steve blushed. “I found a flaw.”

“Did I add a self-destruct button?” He waved off Steve’s attempted explanation. “Jarvis, give me the feed.”

One of the walls lit up with a holo display of the last few minutes of Steve’s sparring match with the robot. Steve let Tony watch. While it was hard to be sure, since Tony was a genius, Steve’s observations led him to believe that Tony understood visual better than auditory information, at least at first, so Steve let Tony watch before explaining what happened. When both Steve and the video were done, Tony was nodding.

“Huh. Didn’t think about that. Good catch, Steve.” Tony hit him lightly on the chest.

“Aw.” Clint pouted. “That’s it?”

“Were you expecting something else?” Bruce asked.

“Can’t rely on you two to have a good smack-down anymore.” Clint shook his head in disappointment.

Darcy leaned over and whispered something to Clint, which made both of them laugh. Steve did not want to know.

Ignoring them, Steve knelt down next to Tony who was examining the robot. The scent of grease, heated metal, coffee, and something that was just Tony assaulted his senses and he breathed deep to take it in because it was nice. Then he caught himself, fought a blush, tried to still his rapid heartbeat, and stood.

“I’m going to hit the showers; I’ll see you all at dinner.” He said and tried for casual as he walked away. He ignored Darcy’s snickers and tossed his sweaty towel at Clint when he joined her.

“Cap!” Tony called, stilling him. “When you’re free, I've got something to show you.”

“Sure thing, Tony.”

 

Tony didn’t fidget. He didn’t. He was doing totally legitimate tinkering while he waited for Steve.

That malfunction was really getting annoying. He tapped the arc reactor, frowning. He’d have to do maintenance. He told Jarvis to remind him to do diagnostics when he had a free hour and ignored the tone the AI used. Jarvis did not like it when he ran diagnostics because it required taking the arc reactor out.

When Steve arrived, freshly showered, Tony told Jarvis to let him in, and then waved him over. He opened up the file he wanted to show Steve and brought it over as he wheeled himself over to the blonde. He motioned Steve to stand in front of him and then expanded the holo when he was in the right spot.

“May I?” Steve asked, looking at the newly designed armor.

“Of course. You can zoom in or take it apart if you want to.” Tony hit a few settings as Steve moved closer.

Tony watched as Steve manipulated the image. Tony was fairly certain he hadn’t ever done it before, so he must have picked up on the basics from watching Tony, because he was doing it like a pro. Tony smiled. Steve might still be amazed by technology, but he wasn’t stupid. Steve was pretty adaptable.

“What do you think?”

“What’s it made of?”

Tony hit a few commands and the layers separated. Pulling out the first layer, Tony explained, “Standard nomex and Kevlar weave, though it’s a bit more flexible. Did some things to the design after looking at Bug-Face McJoe’s suit.”

“Bug-Face McJoe?” Steve tried to keep the smile off his face and failed.

“Miss Darcy’s idea, Captain Rogers. It has apparently stuck.” Jarvis informed him.

Tony ignored the AI and his disapproving tone. Darcy was snarky as all hell and Tony found it refreshing that someone could match him snark for snark. She was the Lab Monkey for himself, Bruce, and Dr. Foster, though mostly Dr. Foster since she’d arrived with the petite astrophysicist, and had managed to get on everyone’s good side. Including Jarvis’s. He’d be jealous, except he knew Jarvis still loved him best, even if the stubborn AI denied it.

“Now, the design for the second layer was actually inspired by you.” Tony said pointing at Steve with a stylus. When had he picked that up? He gave it a look and then put it down.

“Oh?” Steve’s lip twitched up, probably trying to hide a smile. Which meant Tony had done something that amused him. He ignored it and continued on with the presentation.

Tony pulled up the second layer and zoomed in allowing the scales to come into sharp focus. “What you said about the future not always having the answers. Got me thinking, especially after further examination of McJoe over there. Scale mail was highly effective back in the age of knights and chivalry, you know back when you were a kid”—Steve chuckled—“and is still effective against blades. The original function hasn’t diminished.”

“But it wasn’t designed to stop bullets.”

“True. Thus the first layer is still a must have. The scales themselves are a titanium-tungsten alloy, yes, just like Bug-Face McJoe’s claws. We know it’s effective, already, and it’s a good idea. Titanium may not be the strongest metal out there, but it has an excellent strength to weight ratio, and the tungsten more than makes up for the lost strength. So the end result,” Tony zoomed out and compressed the layers back together, “is a lightweight but very strong armor that is highly resistant to both bullets and blades.”

“It’s brilliant.” Steve grinned as he looked over the image. “When will it be ready?”

“Give me two days.”

“That soon?”

“I already have everything I need; it’s just a matter of building it.” Tony shrugged already thinking about what else he could do with the alloy after making Steve’s armor.

“Thank you, Tony.” Steve reached out and shook Tony’s hand, completely derailing his train of thought.

“Yeah,” Tony shuffled awkwardly, “No problem.” Tony let go of Steve’s hand and took a sip of his coffee. “I’m about to heat up the forge, so it’s going to get pretty hot in here. Go on. Go save puppies or something.”

There wasn’t anything other than jest in his voice, and he was glad that Steve just shook his head with a small laugh. There had been a time where a comment like that would have been poorly received. He was glad those days were past.

Steve took one last wistful look at the armor design before saluting a farewell.

 

Steve left Tony’s lab grinning. He’d liked the design for the new armor; the way it blended old-fashioned armor with new tech reminded him a bit of himself. He was old-fashioned. He grew up in a different time, and, as Darcy kept pointing out in their pop culture lessons, he still held close to some old-fashioned ideals, and that was perfectly okay. But he was in this new time, new millennium, and he was adapting. And that was good too.

He was a little disappointed that Tony had kicked him out though. He would have liked to watch him work and build. He occasionally saw Tony type away at computers and schematics the rare times he was granted access to the lab, but he’d never seen Tony actually physically build something. To work his body, to put it through the paces that he put his mind through when he created something. It would have been interesting.

Steve shook his head. Where had that come from? He was tense again. He sighed and went up to his room. He grabbed his sketchbook and some pencils before heading down to the garage. He hopped on his bike and started the throttle, loving the purr of the engine. He always did have a weakness for great machines. He pulled out of the garage and headed to the park. He’d be just another person in the crowd, just another artist admiring the scenery, and it would give him time to think while his body did something it knew.

He liked people watching. There were a lot of things, a lot of changes in society that he didn’t get, didn’t like, but he enjoyed just watching people go about their lives. Unhindered, unbothered, just being themselves. It was relaxing.

He did a bunch of quick sketches of random people he saw. Nothing of real detail, just rough lines meant to capture a feeling rather than a person. He filled a page with these, allowing himself to relax before tackling his thoughts.

Why was he so tense around Tony? He thought about it. He didn’t remember feeling tense talking to him. Tony was always snarky and joshing him, but he’d long since stopped taking offense at what he’d realized were just things Tony did. He was that way with all of the Avengers and Darcy and Pepper. They’d gotten off to a rough start all those months ago, and both had since apologized for harsh words and judgments, so Steve was really sure that it wasn’t anything that Tony said that made him tense.

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t recall feeling tense in his company. He was relaxed; he enjoyed being in the lab and having Tony explain the new armor to him. It was great to watch Tony work, to see genius as it happened.

It wasn’t until after he left that he’d started to feel tense. When he’d started thinking about Tony working at the forge. Was he worried? He didn’t feel particularly worried. He knew Tony knew what he was doing, or that if he didn’t that Jarvis or Dummy would be there to help out. He knew Tony’d built the first Iron Man suit and the first miniature arc reactor in a much less safe working environment, so he didn’t think worry had anything to do with it.

His thoughts were interrupted by something hitting his shin. Looking down, he picked up a Frisbee off the ground at his feet and smiled. It was painted like his shield. When a group of little kids ran up to retrieve it, apologizing, one of them seemed to recognize him.

“Are you Captain America? The real Captain America?” They all got really excited.

Steve smiled shyly and nodded. “Today I’m just Steve, though.”

Through the next loud few moments as they all started talking at once, Steve somehow managed to get wrangled into joining them in their Frisbee game. He ended up playing for the next hour before he convinced them that he should get back to the Tower. He did sign the Frisbee before he left, though. They told him thanks and then ran off to go find whatever adult figure they were with to tell of their game with the Captain America.

He smiled and collected his sketchbook; finally taking the time to look at all he’d drawn. The first page was really a bunch of doodles, but the second page was much more detailed. He’d unconsciously drawn a picture of Tony: grease-stained t-shirt and messy hair with a tired but satisfied look on his face as he reached for a cup of coffee. It was a sight Steve was accustomed to seeing after Tony spent several hours in his lab working on something. He’d come up to the kitchen after finishing something important and just enjoy a properly made cup of coffee—because Dummy couldn’t make it the way Tony really liked it with the old coffee maker Tony had in the lab—after a job well done.

Steve closed the book and put it in its case on the bike before driving back to the Tower. He was still tense, still confused, but he decided sketching probably wasn’t going to make that go away. It was time to simply distract himself and worry about it later.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Darcy as he got off his bike.

“Darcy Lewis, guide to the future, when can I take you?” Her voice sang through the phone. He smiled. She always answered the phone in the most ridiculous ways.

“I find myself in need of a distraction. Any suggestions?”

She cackled. “Several, depends on what you’re looking for.”

“Just something to take my mind off…stuff for a while.”

“Anything wrong?” She asked concerned.

He hit the button of the elevator, “No. Just tired of thinking.”

“In that case, I have just the cure for you. Where are you at?”

“Headed up to the main living room.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.” She disconnected.

When he got to the living room, she was already sitting on the couch between Clint and Bruce, the giant TV on a menu screen. He flopped down onto his favorite armchair and let himself be drawn in to the ridiculousness that was Despicable Me. He found that he greatly enjoyed the animated movies of Pixar and DreamWorks, so Darcy tended to select those when he requested a distraction. 

The movie did its job and he relaxed. Bruce got up once the movie was done to cook dinner and Darcy sprawled in his absence, moving her feet into Clint’s lap. When she asked if he’d like another, he nodded, and she told Jarvis to play Monsters Inc.

Bruce made enough for everyone and soon Thor, Jane, and Natasha joined them. Dinner turned into more movies, not all of which were animated, but Steve still had fun. He did excuse himself briefly to bring Tony a plate of food. Dummy greeted him at the door to the lab and took the plate from him before shutting the door. Jarvis said that Tony had restricted access from everyone while he was working the forge, but thanked Steve for remembering to bring Tony food.

The movie marathon lasted well into the night, and Clint, Darcy, Bruce, and Jane all fell asleep somewhere around four. Deciding that that was probably late enough, Steve stood and turned off the movie that had just finished. Natasha tapped Clint, who became instantly awake, and calmed him with a simple touch. He nodded and extracted himself from Darcy’s legs. Natasha went on to wake Bruce gently. Steve woke Darcy, smiling when she called him old blue eyes, and helped her to her feet. Thor gently took Jane up to their room without waking her, quietly thanking everyone for the camaraderie of the evening. 

“Why can’t I have a big strong superhero to carry me to bed?” Darcy pouted. 

“Suffering builds character.” Natasha told her.

“Character. Ugh. So overrated.” Darcy mumbled.

Clint scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder, smacking her lightly on the bum as he started walking away. Steve was going to protest, but Darcy didn’t seem to mind too much beyond an indignant squeak. Steve watched the two throw jabs at each other as Clint walked them toward the bedrooms.

“They seem close.” Dr. Banner said as he cleaned his glasses.

“Well that’s… Are they…going steady?” Steve asked. He made it a point to keep up with important events with his team, and a relationship between Clint and Darcy would count as important. Natasha and Bruce gave him amused looks. Right, no one used that phrase any more. “I mean…dating? That’s the right word, right? Dating?”

“Right word, but incorrect.” Natasha shook her head. “They are close, but it is more of a familial attachment than a romantic one.”

“Good, for a second I thought I’d missed something important.” Steve muttered. 

Natasha gave him a look that he could only interpret as despairing, as if he’d just said something disappointing, but she was amused as well. To the side he saw Bruce smirk as well. Clearly he’d missed _something_. “What?” He watched her consider not answering and sighed. “Never mind. I’ll figure it out eventually.”

She gave him a small smile. “I’m sure you will.” And she followed after Clint and Darcy to her own rooms. Bruce mumbled good night and left as well. Steve considered going to check on Tony before going to bed, but decided to do so in the morning and shuffled off to find a few hours of sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the world
> 
> _Hey guys, sorry for the delay. I had to go out of town and the drive wore me out, I'm sorry. The next chapter will still be posted on the 25th_

Steve kept himself distracted the next day. He focused on his team, making sure to spend at least a little time with everyone. This led to an interesting variety of activities. He ran about ten miles with Natasha first thing in the morning, after a shower he cooked breakfast with Clint, chatter during breakfast led to a several hours long philosophical discussion with Dr. Banner, he sparred with Thor, cooked lunch, again, with Clint, and then somehow got recruited to go shopping with Darcy where he mostly just carried the bags. 

He watched, amused, as Darcy dug around in the bags he carried to produce a small item for each person as she encountered them on the way to the kitchen. Natasha received a small collection of rare plant seeds for her personal garden—that Steve definitely did not know anything about, nope, nothing—and quickly slipped them into an inside pocket in her suit. Clint was handed four packets of coiled wire. Steve wasn’t sure what they were, but they had to have been significant because Clint gave Darcy a gentle kiss on her forehead before turning around and heading back to his room. Thor thanked her loudly for the three large leather-bound books she handed him—he remembered those from the bookstore. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and H.P. Lovecraft—When they reached the kitchen, Darcy dug around and pulled out a large briefcase and set it on the island before going back in to get a brown paper bag and a large flexible bowl. She dumped the contents of the bag into the bowl and Steve saw that it was a wide variety of teas.

“For Dr. Banner, right?”

“You can call him Bruce.” Darcy reminded him. “And yes. Complete with a smash proof bowl.” She grinned while demonstrating the bowl’s ability to retain its shape despite being squashed. 

“Why all the gifts?”

“Tony mentioned that it was one year since the Avengers assembled for the first time. He wanted me to get something for everyone.”

“A year? Already?” Steve thought back and realized she was right.

Darcy nodded. “Time flies when you save the world, apparently.”

“Who’s the briefcase for?” He asked.

“You. Enjoy.” She gathered the rest of the bags from him and walked away, Bruce’s gift in her hand.

He eyed it warily. She hadn’t given him a chance to refuse it, probably on purpose. Everyone’s gifts seemed to be well suited for their intended recipients; she’d clearly put thought into each one. He wasn’t sure what he’d use a briefcase for, though. He took it off the island and was surprised to find that it was heavier than he thought it would be. He set it back down and opened it. 

Art supplies. A lot of art supplies. Charcoal, pastels, graphite pencils, color pencils, inking pens, water colors, oil paints, and acrylic paints all fitted into each half of the case held in place by foam. Contained within was also a new, large sketchbook with thick heavy grade paper. 

He had absolutely no idea when she’d gotten this because he did not remember stepping foot inside an art supply shop today.

“You like it?” Steve jumped, and turned to see Tony in the doorway. He was sweaty and dirty and had clearly just come up from his lab. 

“Yeah,” Steve smiled. “I’ve never used some of these before. These paints. Should be interesting. I’ll need brushes…”

“Actually,” Tony pushed off from the doorway, “there’s a catch, here,” he hit a button Steve hadn’t noticed earlier and lifted the foam that held the paints. Underneath were a variety of brushes and other tools. “Glad she went with this model; the others were a little bland.”

“Bland?”

“No secret catches or hidden pockets. No imagination in designers these days.” Tony lamented shaking his head.

Steve sighed, amused. Tony had interesting standards for basic equipment. 

“So one year?”

“Crazy, right? I figured we would have tried to kill each other by now.” Tony moved to start the coffee maker.

“Give us some time; it may happen yet.”

Tony chuckled. “I don’t know. Lab Monkey seems to be keeping us in line. Despite our best efforts.”

“It’s not so hard.” Darcy said, reentering with all but one bag gone. “I just leave food where you can find it and lay down newspaper every night.”

“Ha ha.” Tony took a sip of his coffee before continuing. “What’s in the bag?”

She handed it to him. “You are entirely too difficult to shop for.”

“I believe I told you not to get me anything.” Tony gave her a look over his mug.

“You also told me to use my judgment on what would be best for everyone. Everyone includes you.” Darcy placed Tony’s credit card in his jeans pocket. She then walked away.

Frowning at the gift, Tony placed it on the island and glared at it as he took another sip of coffee.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Steve asked, admittedly curious. He’d been with her the entire time, but he simply could not remember her buying most of what he’d seen passed to the other Avengers.

Steve watched as Tony struggled with whether or not to reach into the bag. Steve would place money on his curiosity winning out over whatever reservations he had, though, and in a few minutes, he was proven correct. Tony sighed and set his coffee down before pulling the bag toward himself. He pulled out something wrapped carefully in paper, but if Steve had to guess, he’d say it was a picture frame. He was right again. When Tony pulled the paper away, Steve caught sight of the edge of a red and gold frame, but not the picture within.

“I’ll be damned.” Tony muttered, a small smile pulling at his face. “She’s good.”

“May I?” Steve asked. Tony handed him the frame. It was Iron Man red and gold, Steve noticed. The picture was one he didn’t remember taking, but was of all the Avengers along with Darcy, Jane, Pepper, and Rhodey gathered in the living area. Relaxed, comfortable, happy, and completely candid. It had to have been taken by Jarvis. 

Tony took it when Steve offered it to him and tucked it under one arm. He then picked up his coffee and gestured to Steve. “Enough feelings. Too much sentiment will short out the reactor. Your armor is ready, though. Come down to the lab.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but followed Tony to his lab. 

Tony placed the picture frame on his worktable before gesturing grandly at the completed armor resting on a stand. It was even painted. 

“Impressive.”

“You haven’t even put it on yet.” Tony chastised half-heartedly. 

Steve grinned and took it off the stand. It was lighter than he expected and he shot a look at Tony who just smirked. The genius pointed to a side room for him to change in and Steve grabbed the uniform in its entirety. He noted upgrades in the pants as he put them on. The fabric was the same Kevlar-nomex blend, but the weight was different. He’d bet that Tony had improved the blend. Again. He slipped into the scale mail next and was surprised by how easily it went on. It fit perfectly and he checked flexibility as he stepped into the boots and tugged on the gloves. He was impressed. 

He stepped out of the bathroom and approached Tony—who looked rather pleased with himself—with a nod of approval. “This is very impressive, Tony.”

“I know. I manage to astonish even myself occasionally.”

Steve shook his head, but couldn’t hide the smile. 

When the klaxons started blaring, he switched into Captain America mode in an instant.

“I have fantastic timing.” Tony muttered.

“Are you ok to go?” Steve asked. Tony had spent the past two days in the lab and Steve was not sure if he’d slept. He looked fine though.

“Fit as a fiddle, Cap.” Tony dismissed his concern. “Jarvis, what do we have?”

“Intruders on the roof, Sir. They are gaining entry through the air ducts as well as the top floor windows. Energy readings indicate they are more hybrids.”

“Time to test the new defenses. How long will it take to charge?” Tony asked, already initiating the Iron Man armor.

“The pulse will need ten minutes to charge, Sir.”

“Hawkeye, are you on comms?” Steve pulled his cowl on and itched to grab his shield—which was not currently on him—vowing silently to strap it to his back from now on.

“I am.”

“Defend your nest; we seem to have developed a hybrid infestation.” Steve told him. “Remember to watch out for those claws.”

“They won’t get close enough to use them, Cap.” He could hear Hawkeye climb into the ducts.

“Widow, the intruders have breached the top floor lab; round up Darcy and Dr. Foster. Keep them safe. Thor, Iron Man and I will meet you on the top floors to clear out the rest.” Steve turned to see Iron Man already suited up and awaiting orders as the others responded in the affirmative. When Steve nodded, Iron Man pulled him in close and then launched out of the specially designed tunnel to fly to the roof. 

Dr. Banner came over the comm. then. “What do you need me to do?”

“My shield is in my room, I need you to bring it to me. Jarvis—“

“Dr. Banner will have temporary access, Captain.”

“Thank you. Dr. Banner once you’re on the roof, release the Hulk.” Steve ordered before directing his attention to Iron Man. “What new pulse is Jarvis preparing?”

“It should disrupt their suits’ ability to absorb energy and hopefully disrupt their stealth tech.”

“Should and hopefully are not very comforting.” Banner huffed over the comm.

“Ye of little faith!” Iron Man quipped. 

When they reached the roof, Thor was already there and swinging Mjölnir at advancing hybrids. Without his shield for the moment, Steve had to improvise. He disarmed one of the hybrids and took the sword for his own purposes. He wasn’t used to the weapon, but it wasn’t too difficult to use. When Bruce arrived, he tossed Steve’s shield as he started to turn green. 

“Thor, Hulk stay on the roof and don’t let any more into the Tower, and bring down that aircraft as soon as you can.” Steve made sure both acknowledged before issuing further orders. “Iron Man, you and I are going to clear out the top floors.”

“Aye, Aye Cap.” The second ride with the armor was significantly shorter, which was good since he didn’t have a free hand to hold on to anything. 

When they touched down, they followed the path of destruction. “Jarvis, where are they headed?” Iron Man asked.

“The hybrids are converging on Miss Lewis and Dr. Foster’s location, Sir.”

“Shit.” 

Steve ignored the explicative. “Widow, did you copy that?”

“I heard. I’m getting them to the panic room.”

“Hawkeye, what’s your status?” 

“Oh, I’m fine.” He said calmly, “But Tony’s going to need new air ducts. And wires.”

“Have you cleared them out?” Iron Man asked.

“Still working on it.”

Steve ran, Iron Man flying beside him, towards the panic room. They took out the stragglers on their way without difficulty and Steve continued to listen intently to his team’s reports. Thor and Hulk were holding their own on the roof and had already taken out the aircraft that had dropped the intruders. The Black Widow managed to get Darcy and Dr. Foster to the entrance to the panic room, but there were too many enemies for her to get the door open.

When Steve and Iron Man got close enough, they saw that Black Widow had created a choke point and was keeping the hybrids at bay, but she couldn’t take her focus off the defense to get the codes into the panic room.

“Jarvis, why haven’t you opened the door?” Iron Man demanded.

“My connection to the panic room as been severed.” The AI responded.

Steve assessed quickly. If they could get into the thick of the fight and draw their attention away from the girls, Widow should be able to get the manual override to work. Working their way through from behind would not be fast enough, however. 

“Iron Man.”

“You have an idea?”

He didn’t have enough room to simply leap into the middle of the crowd; he’d need speed to force his way through. Iron Man could fly in, but that would leave him vulnerable since he hadn’t upgraded his armor and Steve would be stuck at the back, ineffective. He grinned when the solution came to him.

“Bowling for buzzards.”

Iron Man laughed, “Darcy would approve.” 

Steve braced himself as Iron Man grabbed him around the waist. He hoisted his shield and gave Iron Man the signal to launch. The speed was enough to force their way to the center and Steve landed on his feet in a crouch when he was released. He came up swinging and scattered hybrids with sword and shield. Back to back with Iron Man, they were able to make a significant dent in the hybrid numbers and successfully distracted them away from the girls. The claw attacks were deflected by his new armor and he heard Iron Man holler in triumph over the comm.

“The pulse is ready, Sir.”

“Use it!”

Steve did not notice anything, but Hawkeye began cackling over the comm. and shouting bravado, so Steve assumed something had happened. Iron Man took it as a good sign as well and used his lasers to slice through the hybrids advancing from the rear. It made an impressive mess, but did its job of cutting through bad guys.

“You’re going to have to replace that flooring.” Widow commented dryly.

“I’m going to be replacing this whole floor, might as well make the most of it.” Iron Man grumbled.

“Looking very medieval, Cap.” Hawkeye said. Steve did not take the time to look for his position, but he did smile. 

With the four of them fully engaged in the fight, the hybrids fell. When the area was clear, Steve took stock of injuries. Hawkeye was unscathed, as promised, but Widow had several gashes that were bleeding sluggishly. She assured him she was all right, but he made her promise to let medical check her out all the same.

“Thor, we’ve cleared the Tower. Do you need assistance?”

“Nay, Captain. These vermin have been dealt with. How fair my Lady Jane and the Lady Darcy?”

Jarvis answered, “They are safe within the panic room and remain unharmed.”

“Good. Keep them in there until the clean up is finished.” Steve ordered. Darcy could yell at him all she wanted for treating her like a ‘delicate flower’, but he would not expose them to the carnage that now littered the area. 

Tony removed the helmet of his armor and surveyed the area. “This is why we can’t have nice things.” All three of them gave him very pointed looks and he sighed. “No sense of humor. If Darcy had been on comms., she would have appreciated my humor.”

“We’re in one of the R&D bio labs are we not?” Natasha said, not really looking for clarification. “Is there some kind of quarantine cleanse?”

“It would destroy all of the samples in this area.” Bruce said from the doorway. He was leaning on Thor for support and clutching the remains of his shorts, but he looked well enough.

“We’ll try to save anything that isn’t already spoiled or contaminated, and then limit the damage to this area of the lab. I think it’s for the best.” Tony put his helmet back on to use the phone and call in the SHIELD lab techs that were in the Tower.

“Get on the comm. and tell Fury I want what information he has on this branch of Hydra. I want to know why they went after Dr. Foster and Darcy.” Steve ordered.

“I’m on it.” Clint left the room, hand to his comm. as he started barking out code phrases to get a direct line to Fury.

Thor escorted Bruce and Natasha out with a promise to see them both to medical. Steve nodded and noticed that Natasha helped Bruce tie a knot in his shorts so that he wouldn’t have to hold them. He really couldn’t understand how agents in SHIELD thought she was so cold.

Tony pulled Steve’s train of thought back to the matter at hand when he took the helmet off again. Steve was tempted to comment on Tony’s helmet hair, but decided against it. There were standing in the middle of a bloody floor; the time for joking was not now.

“Good catch, by the way.” Tony cast a serious glance to the panic room. “You’re right, they were clearly after the girls.”

“Why though?” Steve asked. “Anyone who wanted Dr. Foster’s research on the Bifrost would go after the equipment as well.”

“Fair point, and Thor, while impressive, isn’t really on Hydra’s shit list. Why go after his girl?”

“Hopefully Fury will have answers.” Steve sighed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or their world

He and Steve had gotten the lab cleared of all essential, non-damaged samples and before he activated the Clean Slate Protocol. It didn’t take too long. The protocol was designed to be very effective and brutal. Any and all organic matter was wiped clean. He’d created it for instances of biological contamination or attack, but he guessed it doubled as fast clean up too. When it was done and Jarvis said it was safe to enter, Tony and Steve headed back in to get Darcy and Jane out of the Panic Room. The floor was littered with remnants of ninja suits and bits of scorched metal. He made a note to have it collected later. 

He hit the code for the door and caught Jane as she tried to push past him. He was still in the armor though, so she was more likely to injure herself than move him. “My equipment; I have to check it.”

“Of course, Dr. Foster. We just want to make sure you’re alright first.” Steve said calmly.

“I’m _fine._ Let me get back to work.”

Tony let her go and she raced off to her own lab. “Are we sure she’s okay?”

“Yeah. She just wants to make sure they didn’t wreck her stuff.” Darcy strolled out of the Panic Room. 

“From my observances, Dr. Foster’s equipment remains undamaged.” Jarvis announced.

“And _I_ believe you, Buttercup,” Darcy told Jarvis, “but she’s still going to want to check for herself.”

“Did you just use a term of endearment on my AI?” Tony asked incredulous.

“It is nice to occasionally ‘feel the love’, Sir.” Jarvis deadpanned. 

Tony ignored Steve’s chortle as he pointed an accusing finger at Darcy. “You’ve corrupted him! Turned him against me! Jarvis… how could you?”

“Why does it smell like a sick barbeque out here?” Darcy asked, cutting off any further conversation about Jarvis’s betrayal, face frowning in mild disgust. 

“You don’t want to know.” Steve said quietly.

Darcy glared at him.

“No. Really. You don’t. I wish I didn’t know; we’re saving you from that fate.” Tony began ushering her out of the lab. He actually hated the Clean Slate Protocol; it was destructive and absolute, but he also wouldn’t risk anything escaping the Tower to infect the city. Absolute was necessary.

Darcy rolled her eyes and walked quickly towards the elevator, leaving Steve and Tony to follow behind. He walked them to the elevator, but he was still in the suit; he should just take it down to the lab through the hole he’d made earlier. The faceplate slid back into place and he jetted off with a wave.

When he touched down in the lab, he removed the armor and set it aside. He’d need to start analysis, see where the weak points were and what he could do for upgrades. No point in just fixing it; if he had time and opportunity—and he did—he could and would make it better. He had other things to work on though. He’d neglected his other projects while working on Steve’s armor, but now that it was finally done, he could pick up where he left off on reverse engineering the ninja suit.

He reviewed collected data quickly to bring it all back to the forefront of his mind, and then brought up the specs on Clint and Natasha’s current uniforms. Natasha’s would be easier; her suit already covered most of her body, it would just be a matter of weaving the stealth tech—that he was going to improve upon, he could already see areas to do so—into the fabric. Clint’s, however, didn’t cover his arms. He preferred them to be free so that he’d have as much freedom of movement as possible when firing his bow. Which, now that Tony thought about it, he should probably test the puncture capabilities of the titanium-tungsten alloy, see how much it improved penetration over regular arrows. He noted the side project and Jarvis made a file.

Deciding to start with the tech itself and worry about designs when he’d made progress, Tony began with the basics. After tearing apart the circuitry—which was barely functional, he was going to overhaul this system and make it the _right_ way—Tony delved into finding an answer to the power draw. The suit had to get its power from somewhere; tech didn’t work without an energy source. There wasn’t anything obvious, so he gave its inventor a little credit. Only a little though.

He pulled up the original energy reading from the first ninja assault and began analyzing the data that Jarvis had worked through. He ran it through a few simulations and theories to see what made it tic, what it reacted to, finding its active and inert properties. All of them helped him narrow his focus and specified his results towards one answer. 

They were drawing power from the gamma radiation of the ninjas themselves and converting it into energy for the suit.

Tony frowned. That sounded a little unhealthy, not to mention almost impossible to reproduce. But he wasn’t trying to reproduce it. No, Tony was going to make it better. So first things first, he had to create a better power source.

He had been working for an unknown amount of time—he tended to lose track—when Jarvis told him that his presence had been requested. Clint had information regarding today’s attack and Steve had called everyone to the living area, so Tony pulled himself away from schematics and toward the more populated area of the Tower.

No one was sitting, despite the many chairs, couches, and comfy looking puffs that Tony had placed in the living area. They were all too tense. An attack on the Tower hadn’t happened since Loki’s war a year ago, and it had become a home to all of them since then. It was a place they were supposed to feel safe. He had failed them when the ninjas had gotten passed his defenses. He’d fix it. He added to the list of things he was working on and moved it straight to the top.

“How much info did they get on the Bifrost?” Tony asked Jane since she and Darcy were both here too.

“None.” She told him with a relieved smile.

Clint took that opening and slapped a folder on the table. “Because that’s not what they were after.”

Steve frowned. “They went straight for Dr. Foster’s lab.”

“They went straight for Darcy.” Clint corrected him.

“Say wha-uh now? Why me?” Darcy sounded indignant more than scared and Tony grinned in spite of himself. Lab Monkey was a _spitfire_.

Clint pulled out a few glossy photos and laid them out on the table. They were all of Darcy and Steve. Judging by the clothes they were wearing—and the bags Steve was carrying—they were from earlier today when they had gone shopping. The pictures all seemed to be from a distance, probably using a telephoto lens, and weren’t the best quality in the world, but they were all obviously of Darcy and Steve and they appeared to be having fun if their smiles were anything to go by. Once all of the photos were on the table, Clint pulled out a newspaper article. Tabloid, really. It had a picture of the two of them hugging, probably at the start of their venture since Steve wasn’t burdened with shopping bags, and the headline read, “Who Is Captain America’s Girlfriend?”

“Oh fuck me _sideways!_ Is that today’s paper?” Darcy grimaced.

Tony felt offended on Steve’s behalf. Some people would be pleased and flattered to be mistaken for dating Captain America. Darcy was clearly not.

“Tomorrow’s.” Clint told her. 

She looked at him desperately. “Can we stop it from running?”

“SHIELD’s already on it, but this might not be the only one.” Clint told her. 

Tony saw Steve shift uncomfortably. “You’re saying that Hydra went after Darcy because they thought she was my girl?”

And, yeah, it sounded a little ridiculous when Steve said it that way. “Whether or not Hydra reads the tabloids, she’s clearly at least somewhat important to you.” Bruce held up one of the pictures where Darcy had an arm around Steve’s waist in what was probably a side hug, but looked more intimate when frozen on the page. “That may have been all they needed to make her a target.”

“Joy. Rapture.” Darcy sighed. “I have to get ahead of this before I’m murdered, excuse me.” She pulled out her phone and began to walk away. 

“Darcy,” Natasha called, “We won’t let Hydra touch you.”

Darcy laughed, strained. “Like I’m worried about Hydra. No. I have to call my Gramma Lewis before she kills me for corrupting Captain America.”

The others tried to hide their smirks, Tony just laughed. Darcy flipped them off as she walked away with her phone to her ear.

“Tony, where are you on figuring out how they got in?” Bruce asked, meticulously straightening his cuffs. Tony knew it was something Bruce did when he was on edge.

“Brute force.” Tony said simply. “I’m working on plans for better deterrents.”

“In the mean time, I want a guard on her when she’s not in the Tower.” Steve said. “Clint, Natasha?”

“We’ll work out a schedule.” Natasha nodded.

“I’m going back to my lab. Work on a few things. See you guys later.” Tony turned to go back downstairs, already tapping out equations on his Tablet.

And they let him. Which was good, because he had a lot of ideas in his head that he needed to get started on, not the least of which was a physical defense system for the outside of the Tower. He was berating himself as he worked through some math about how he hadn’t put anything on the Tower earlier. He sent the larger plans straight to Jarvis when he got the skeleton of them done. Jarvis would flush out the rest as Tony continued to come up with ideas. 

He was working on about twelve different schematics when Darcy found her way into the lab. “Tony.”

“Lab Monkey! Come here; I need measurements.” He swung around and opened up the plans he’d flushed out for a specially designed communicator. It had a direct link to Jarvis and a built in Panic! button should an emergency arise.

“Tony.” She admonished, but still moved closer. “Have you eaten recently? Or slept?”

“No time. Have to get this done, the Tower needs these defenses as soon as I can make them, so that’s what I’m doing. How are you doing?” He deflected as the holo interface lit up around Darcy’s head.

“Managed to convince my Granny that I wasn’t dating Captain America, but not before I got the lecture of a lifetime about my wicked, wicked ways. Living in sin and debauchery, all that jazz.” Darcy grinned. “Like he wasn’t in the army for years. He was corrupted way before I got to him.”

“I’m sure you helped.” Tony tapped out adjustments as her measurements displayed in front of him.

She laughed. “I did a little; not that I told my Granny that. She’d _filet_ me.” When the holo disappeared, Darcy leaned against the workbench. “You need to sleep. And eat.”

“I will.” 

“Now, Tony. Before I get Steve down here to carry you out.”

Tony pointedly ignored the flutter, but he would need to find time to look at the damn reactor. After. He still had to finish these defense plans. So he ignored the flutter as the image of Steve throwing him over his shoulder, giving Tony an unobstructed view of his backside—No! Defense plans were important. He needed to finish. Needed to protect the Tower. His fault they were attacked. 

“Tony.” Her voice was soft. “It wasn’t your fault.”

He gave her a look. Yes, it was, and he did not appreciate platitudes. He fucked up, just like he had a year ago. All the time. He sent the finished design to Jarvis for production and moved on to the roof defenses for the Tower. 

“Ok, I’m leaving. If you’re still working down here when Steve gets up in a few hours, I will not be held responsible for the bodily removal of your person.” Darcy sighed. “Goodnight, Tony.”

“Night, Lab Monkey.”

She left. He kept working.

 

When Steve woke up he asked for the team’s status. Most of them should be asleep, but he wouldn’t put it past some of them to wake early like he did, assuming they ever went to sleep.

“Agents Barton and Romanov are in the gym, Dr. Banner is asleep in his quarters, Mr. Odinson is with Dr. Foster in her quarters, Miss Lewis is watching television in the main living area, and Master Stark has fallen asleep in his workshop.” Jarvis informed him.

Steve considered whether he should venture down to the workshop, but if Tony was actually asleep, he didn’t want to disturb him. On the other hand, was he getting a restful sleep in the workshop?

“Is he good as is, or should I bring him to his own bed?”

“Master Stark has a cot in the lab for just this purpose, Captain Roger. He will be fine in a few hours.”

Steve made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. “Thanks Jarvis.”

Running was always first on Steve’s list of morning activities when there were no emergencies. He always got a thrill out of being able to run for miles and miles and not have his lungs seize or develop that annoying and painful stitch in his side like he would before the serum. It was good exercise, yes, but Steve did it because he _could._ It was exhilarating. 

So, when Darcy told him he shouldn’t go, Steve might have pouted. “Why not?”

“Paparazzi apparently wake even earlier than you do.” She grumbled. “They’re all outside waiting to ambush you.” She sounded rather perturbed. Something was up; she was in her pajamas, but she didn’t look like she’d slept at all. 

“Are you alright, Darcy? I can get them to leave if they’re bothering you.” Steve didn’t care about the paparazzi when it came to himself. He didn’t really have anything to hide and while occasionally rude, he didn’t usually have issues with the press. But he knew that the other members of his team were not always as lucky when it came to the nosy photographers, and he did not like the look that Darcy had on her face.

She rolled her eyes, “They’re leeches—and lechers—but nothing I can’t handle.”

“Something is bothering you though.” Steve sat on the arm of the couch after texting Jarvis—though it was a little weird that he could text what was essentially the Tower—to handle the paparazzi. He had not missed Darcy’s muttered aside.

Darcy sighed, “Aside from the gifts, yesterday sucked ass.” She leaned her head against his side. “Yesterday was supposed to be a celebration of how awesome it is that you guys started working together. Instead all you guys got were reminders of just how shitty that day actually was.”

“What do you mean?” He slung a loose arm around her shoulders. He got what Natasha had meant about a familial bond. Steve regarded Darcy as he suspected he would a little sister, and he wanted to make her feel better. 

“The Chitauri hybrids reminding Thor of Loki’s involvement, the attack on the Tower reminding all of you of the attack on the helicarrier, and me and Jane…” She cleared her throat, “You didn’t lose us, but you could have. As if you all needed another reminder that he isn’t here.”

Coulson. He hadn’t forgotten, but he’d handled his grief on his own. Kept himself busy to keep his mind off of the worst of it. Should he have tried to talk to the others? Should he try to do something now?

“It was good of you and Tony to try and make it better.” He offered.

Darcy shrugged. “We failed, I think. But gifts probably weren’t the right way to go anyway. Should do something else…”

“You’ve done enough for one day. You should go to sleep, Darcy.”

“Overrated.” She muttered, but she yawned and stood. She gave him a hug before stumbling off to her room with a tired, “I’ll think of something.”

 

“Jarvis, do I have anything else on my schedule today?”

“You have several unfinished projects, Sir, but nothing that demands your immediate attention.” Jarvis told Tony. 

He had to look into those suit modifications for Natasha and Clint, his armor also needed an upgrade, he was fairly certain he was close to figuring out a Hulk-proof fabric for Bruce, and the defenses for the Tower were in the works. He also had five or so SI projects, but those deadlines weren’t up for another month. He decided he had time.

“Time for those diagnostics, Jarvis.” Tony landed after running basic systems check on the Iron Man armor and let the automated helper take the armor apart before striding forward and activating the diagnostic protocols in Butterfingers, Dummy, and You.

“Sir, will you permit me to call for assistance?” Jarvis sounded exasperated. Really? He did not program that into his code.

“I’ve got this Jarvis, no worries.” Tony stripped out of his shirt and hopped up onto the modified chair that existed specifically for this purpose. He got settled as his bots gathered around him. “Let me see those screens, You. Little to the right… perfect. Don’t move those. Butterfingers, hand me those wires, thank you. Dummy,” he glanced at the little bot and cringed, “watch the door, yeah?”

Dummy wheeled off, happily, glad to have been given a task.

“Okay boys, is the program running? Good. Here we go.” Tony reached his hand across his chest and released the arc reactor from its casing, hesitating only briefly. He made sure not to remove it completely, yet—he would get to that eventually—and began the first diagnostic sequence, keeping his eyes on the screens that displayed the acquired data.

He was halfway through with the diagnostics with no indication that anything was malfunctioning, and Tony was starting to get frustrated. There should have been something, some hint at what was causing the fluttering sensations. He was getting ready to yank the arc reactor out and finish the diagnostics when he heard Dummy wheel around excitedly and the door to the lab open.

“One job! You had one job! I’m going to donate you to the community college, you hunk of junk, just watch me.”

“Hey Dummy, where’s Tony?” Great. It was Steve.

And there was that damnable fluttering! He checked the monitors, but he wasn’t reading anything other than perfectly respectable ranges of functionality. There was nothing that indicated the fluttering was coming from the arc reactor. Though his vitals monitor was recording the increased heart rate. Loudly. Damn.

Steve rounded the corner following Dummy, and froze.

Tony took a moment to realize how this must look to Steve. He was holding the arc reactor in his hand and the heart monitor was beeping rapidly at him. The guy must think Tony had literally ripped his own heart out. And he had. But for totally valid reasons. “I can explain this,” his mouth stuttered out, but his brain had moved on. There was an answer right there…

“Tony! Are you all right? What are you doing?” Steve rushed forward. “I was just coming down here to see if you were up for a group dinner tonight. I think we should do something to honor Coulson. Get together, trade stories, raise a glass. You should have said if something was wrong with the arc reactor!”

Tony detached the reactor and locked it back into his chest as quickly as he could while still staring at Steve. As usual, Steve knew better what to do when it came to people and feelings. A, well, he supposed it was a sort of wake, was a way better idea for the anniversary than gifts. “Just running diagnostics, Cap. Everything I design is perfect, of course, but with the arc reactor I like to make extra sure. Still working just fine.”

Steve relaxed immediately and shook his head at Tony’s self-flattery. “You would say if something were wrong, right?”

“Sure thing.” Tony hopped off the table. “Great idea about throwing a Coulson dinner/wake/anniversary, by the way. I’ll get Jarvis to round everybody up. We can all cook a little something. Except Thor. He can toast pop-tarts.”

Steve smiled. He smiled his bright and sunny pure Steve Rogers—just himself, not Captain America smiling for the masses—smile, and Tony’s brain stuttered a little. And it all clicked into place. There was no arc reactor malfunction. It was just Steve, all Steve. He—Tony Stark, billionaire play boy—was attracted to Steve Rogers! Well, not that the man wasn’t drool worthy, but really. 

He was in so much trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _So that's the end of this first story set. **But fear not!**_ **For we have several stories in this series and the next one is currently in the works.** _So stick around, stop by and see us some time, and we'll have the next segment out as soon as we can._ **All the kudos and bookmarks and everything have been great, we love hearing from you guys. _Hope you enjoyed!_**

**Author's Note:**

>  _We've done it! We've finally finished the first section!_ **And we're posting.** _We are. **So enjoy!!**_ **We plan on posting about every three days.**


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